October 24, 2025 —– Chart #321
Howdy Music Friends,
There comes a moment in a songwriter’s career when everything clicks: the right melody, the right words, the perfect woman. For Billy Joel, that moment came with “She’s Always a Woman,” where confessional piano meets timeless lyric, wrapped in the warmth of admiration… and maybe a dash of awe.
Written entirely by Billy Joel, the song appeared on his 1977 breakthrough album The Stranger. Joel released it as a single in April 1978, and it climbed to No. 17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 18 on the Cash Box chart. It later found new life in the UK when reissued in 1986 as a double A-side with “Just the Way You Are,” and again in 2010 when a television commercial helped send it back onto the charts.
Joel wrote the song as a love letter to his then-wife, Elizabeth Weber, who managed his career with no-nonsense precision—fixing his finances and protecting him from bad deals. Some people saw her as tough or even difficult, but Joel saw her as smart, strong, and endlessly fascinating. The song’s message is clear: she might not fit everyone’s definition of “gentle,” but she’s perfect in his eyes.
Musically, Joel keeps it simple and warm. The rhythm has a gentle, swaying feel—almost like a slow waltz—and the piano part flows with delicate, rolling chords that give the song an intimate, almost conversational tone. And listen closely—you’ll hear the soft, breathy sound of a Mellotron flute, the only time Joel ever used that instrument on a record.
The Stranger was recorded over three weeks between July and August 1977 at A&M Studios in New York. Joel was backed by his trusted band: Doug Stegmeyer on bass, Liberty DeVitto on drums, and session guitarist Hugh McCracken. Producer Phil Ramone tied it all together with the warm, polished sound that made the album a classic.
And classic it became—The Stranger wasn’t just successful; it was a game-changer. It became Columbia Records’ bestselling original studio release of all time and produced four Top-40 hits: “Just the Way You Are,” “Movin’ Out,” “Only the Good Die Young,” and “She’s Always a Woman.”
In the bigger picture, The Stranger marked the moment Billy Joel stopped being a promising singer-songwriter and became one of the defining voices of late-70s pop. Before this, Joel had modest success with Piano Man and Turnstiles, but The Stranger took him from opening act to headliner, filling arenas and winning Grammy Awards. “She’s Always a Woman” played a big part in that rise—showing he could write not just driving rock anthems, but also tender, lasting ballads that resonated across generations.
Over the years, the song has been reimagined by other artists, including a tender version by Fyfe Dangerfield that returned the tune to the charts decades later. But it’s Joel’s original that remains timeless—a portrait of love that’s real, layered, and unapologetic.
Keep Rockin’,
Stan Bradshaw